shades of purple

Yesterday was our first big enrichment....formerly enrichment....now called "additional relief society meetings". Everything came together and night was a success. The daytime setup proved not as grand. Jace came with me to help set up the gym (poor kid thinks that is his life now. He comes along to my weekly presidency mtgs and at least 2-3 visits each week). I think he actually loves the mom time. He's pretty much content to sit on my lap through all the visits...I am so gonna miss him when he goes to Kindergarten in the fall. Anyway...back to the setup. I was pulling down chairs and leaning them up against the tables. Jace crawled under the table to get a ball, bumped the chair which then fell right on his pinky. OUCH! He cried...for a long time...I ran home for a band aid and thought all was well. He pulled the band aid off a couple hours later and this is what was underneath...

I expected the colorful fingernail...

But this side of his finger was a surprise for sure

After much debate, I decided to wait and see what it looked like this morning before going in to see if it was broken. The purple was moving down the whole finger when he woke up. I was still undecided this morning...my neighbor, who is also my dentist, called and offered to take an xray for me at his office. We ran down to see Dr. Dan, and hooray for us, no broken bones! I figure that little kindness saved me about $300 in pediatrician fees and xrays. I baked my bestest cookies and took them a bunch to say thanks. Tender mercies...I see them everyday.

lemonade out of lemons

As you know from today's earlier post, I was so not thrilled with all the snow.....but....after spending 2 hours playing with the kiddos in the snow, even I have to admit, a big snowstorm does have it's good points. After building two snow forts and one snowman, we came inside and warmed up with 5 big cups of hot chocolate....and really, not too many things beat drinking cocoa and listening to your kids go on and on about how much fun the snow can be. Although, I would enjoy sitting on a warm beach and watching them jump the waves and dig in the sand equally as much :)

skiff of snow

The last news report I heard before going to bed was: the storm is tapering off. You'll only see a skiff to an inch in the valleys, and the storm will be moving and out and gone by 8 am. I woke up this morning around 8:00 (no school today!), looked outside and saw this! That is soooo NOT a skiff...more like 8 inches. So, obviously, Spring still has a long way to go. Grrrrr. Guess I'd better go get the shovels out.

summertime reflections

Took this two summers ago at Thanksgiving Point. The cousins were all lookin' for frogs...they found some tiny little tadpoles...which met with an untimely death thanks to the kiddos refilling the containers with chlorinated water....ahhh...the memories of summer. I am dying to make some more! Would it just get warm already?!

officially a teenager

Yesterday was a big day for this one-more-day-til-I'm-a-teenager-girl. She was awarded her Young Womanhood medallion during sacrament meeting. She set a goal to get it before she was in Miamaids...it took her almost one year to the day she entered Young Women's to complete her personal progress. Kenzie worked hard all year on her projects, and spent most her Sunday afternoons working on the smaller goals. We are so very proud of her. We invited the family up for a pre-birthday party last night. After filling everyone up with homemade chicken noodle soup, we got down to business. Kenzie got everything she wanted...including the muck boots and horse back riding helmet (just what every 13 year old girl wants!). She can't wait to go shopping and spend the cash, and she wore her new bracelets to school today. I'd have to say, it was one of Kenzie's best days!

Thirteen...WHAT!?!

Candles can double as a form of hypnosis...

hAppY bIrtHdaY mCkenZie! We lOvE yOu!!

I am bear...hear me roar!

I know, I know...double posts yesterday...another today...I said it was a crazy week! Tonight was the cub scout Blue & Gold banquet. Tim was recently called as the cubmaster, so he was runnin' the whole show. Carter earned his Bear award and his religious knot. He was super excited! So excited, he pounded 3 hot dogs and at least half a bag of chips during the dinner! The bishop was there to give him his religious knot, and he had Carter tell about some of the things he had done to earn his knot.

painting a bear paw on his cheek....and no, it looked NOTHING like the real thing!

getting pinned

One proud cubscout!

mark of the bear...roar!

Lucky Carter....he has his dad for cubs and for primary. It's just perfect when doing your calling lets you spend extra time with your kids!

tough girlie

Tonight was Rad Kids graduations for all the first graders. If you've seen my blog for the last couple of years, you will remember Maddy and Carter doing the same thing. Rad Kids is a 12 hour program that teaches kids, in a nutshell, that "No one can hurt me because I am special!"The officers that come and do the simulations with them are just awesome. The kids have to use what they have learned and it really gives them powerful tools. It always makes for a fun evening of yelling and cheering for the kids to "Yell! Say no! Kick him harder! Pepper his eyes!" On a side note, I know Laityn is a tiny little thing, but I didn't realize just how small until tonight. She was a head shorter than most the other kids!

Practicing elbow jabs while yelling "NO!"

getting her gear on....serious helmet action here!

Trying to convince Lady that her mom sent this guy to pick her up. She yelled "Stay back! You're not my dad!"....

... and then ran away super fast to tell an adult.

Man in red trying to get her to come help him find his puppy. Thanks to Rad Kids, Lady knows that adults don't need help from kids, and she should get an adult to help him.

When she fought back, he picked her right up...could she look more helpless? But she kicked hard and peppered his eyes.

Kicking and screaming, she got away and made it to the safe zone.

Posing in their "rad kids stance" with the man in red.

Most impressive part of this program: it's all done by volunteers. Nothing better than something that helps keep your kids safer!